Wait, New Mexico is a State?

Yes, it’s a state. No passport required.

WHAT'S NEW?
When she was a kid, says Kelly Carnes, one of our Facebook fans, she always called Mexico “Old Mexico.” The way she figured it, “If there was a New Mexico, the other one must be old.” Makes sense to us. But as tough as it’s been to remind people that we’re officially a state, we doubt Mexico will agree to officially change its name.

INTERNATIONAL INCIDENT
After studying New Mexico Magazine issues for a year, Beltsville, Maryland, resident Christi Fries thoroughly enjoyed her visit. “I stayed at a casita on a working farm in the South Valley, ate authentic chiles rellenos, drove to Madrid, and visited museums.” Then she mailed her souvenirs from an Albuquerque post office so they wouldn’t get lost or ruined on her flight back. A week later, her Petroglyph National Monument poster arrived, with the mailing tube crushed and bent in half. She filed a complaint, but the U.S. Postal Service agent informed her that it bore no blame “since it had to go through customs.” Fries attempted to explain her view of geography, but then gave up. “Maybe they just need a subscription to New Mexico Magazine,” she says.

WE CAN'T EVENRebecca Sacks of Tularosa got an e-newsletter from Fodor’s, the travel-guide giant. Built as a faux postcard, it blared “Welcome to New Mexico” above a photo that mashed up images of Taos Pueblo, in northern New Mexico, and Ship Rock, in northwestern New Mexico, with saguaro cacti, which grow only in Arizona and Mexico. Like Sacks, we’re beyond bewildered.